The Dingzhen and non-combat ships with a maximum speed of only 11 or 2 knots slowed down the formation and gave the British time to regroup the scattered ships, but at an emergency meeting to which only cruiser captains were eligible, the captains present generally questioned the commander's battle plan.

"Your Excellency, with all due respect, your battle plan is simply to make everyone line up to die! I've never seen anything more stupid in my life," a captain in his thirties accused, unceremoniously, but he finally remembered to save some face for his commander, and to stop the precipice in time to say anything more unpleasant.

The fleet commander felt an unprecedented exhaustion in his heart, and in the face of these fools who had not yet figured out the situation, he really wanted to leave it alone, but he finally adjusted his mood and continued to persuade.

Because there are too many people who oppose it, if the fleet commander can't convince his subordinates, even if he forcibly orders as a commander, don't expect these arrogant generals to seriously implement it, especially since this fleet was originally put together temporarily, and he was only promoted by the tallest of the shorts, and he couldn't completely convince the public.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's not that I want you to die, but the British Empire has reached the moment of life and death, and if we can't give the Chinese main fleet a big enough blow, then even if the mainland sends a few capital ships over, it will not be of any use. Singapore will still be occupied by the Chinese, and then Malaya and even Australia, New Zealand and even India will fall into the hands of the Chinese, which will definitely be a disaster! If we lose our colonies in Asia, what will be left of our empire on which the sun never sets? And at that time, the European continental powers will definitely make moves, and the situation is unimaginably bad. Ladies and gentlemen, this is by no means alarmist! The fleet's bitter words had no effect, and it was clear that his subordinates really thought he was alarmist.

An old captain questioned on the spot, "I admit that the Chinese fleet is unimaginably powerful, but no matter how powerful it is, it cannot be the opponent of the Imperial Home Fleet, and the strength of the Home Fleet can even defeat the combined forces of all other countries in the world in the open ocean, and the Sovereign-class battleships are invincible!" ”

"Hehe, the Sovereign-class battleships are invincible? If it was three years ago, this sentence would not be bad at all, but now, the Sovereign-class battleships are outdated! As soon as the commander said this, it immediately attracted greater doubts from the captains, the Sovereign-class battleship is the pride of the Royal Navy, and it has only been a few years since the first ship was built, how could it fall behind so quickly?

The fleet commander sneered and pointed out a well-known reference for comparison, "Although the Centurion class is a second-class battleship, is their combat effectiveness really much worse than that of the Sovereign class?" Although the tonnage and caliber of the main gun are smaller, a large number of new technologies have been applied to the Centurion, such as the 10-inch (254mm) rapid-fire gun. Although the caliber is much smaller than the 13.5-inch (343mm) main gun of the Sovereign class, the maximum rate of fire can reach 1.5 rounds per minute, and the amount of ammunition projection is not inferior, and the Sovereign-class battleship is still a backward open battery design, and we all know very well how much the rate of fire can be in actual combat; as for the armor-piercing ability of the main gun, it is indeed more advantageous to have a large caliber, but don't forget the huge difference between the two times, as long as the combat distance is not too far, the penetration depth of the Centurion-class main gun is only much larger than that of the Sovereign class, and the high magnification can also bring higher accuracy. As for armor protection, although the Sovereign class has obvious advantages in thickness, it is actually not as good as the Centurion class, because the latter uses a new type of Harvey nickel steel case-hardened armor, and the 12-inch (305mm) thick main armor is more difficult to penetrate than the 18-inch (457mm) of the Sovereign class, and the armor protection area of the Centurion class is much larger than that of the Sovereign-class battleships, not to mention that the Centurion class also has the advantage of speed, even if it can't be beaten, it can run, and once the Sovereign class can't be beaten, then it can only wait for death. Okay, who else thinks that the Sovereign-class battleships are much stronger than the Centurion-class? ”

Since Felimant was still in the captive camp, the fleet commander did not yet know that the advantages of case-hardened armor were greater than he thought, but even the ones he had listed were enough to make the captains in the room ponder

At this time, the commander of the fleet expounded his point of view again, but it was much more weighty than before, "But such two powerful Centurion-class battleships were actually sunk by the Chinese Navy, and judging from the results of the previous contacts, the main ships of the Chinese Navy are not missing, that is to say, the Far East Fleet not only failed to sink a capital ship of the Chinese Navy, but even failed to seriously damage one." Ladies and gentlemen, doesn't this result make you realize what a formidable adversary the Chinese Navy is? You say that the Chinese used a conspiracy? It is true that this possibility cannot be ruled out, but the Chinese fleet can sink a new cruiser of more than 4,000 tons in the blink of an eye with just a few warships firing, and such a powerful firepower is the first time I have seen it in my life, so I would rather be lenient with the enemy. ”

Captains, you look at me, I look at you, your face has become extremely serious, and the commander who temporarily rushed ducks to the shelves can think of so much in a short time, obviously it can't be a general, and everyone finally began to obey.

However, there are still not many captains who can accept the fleet commander's plan that is like sending him to death, even if it is not good to directly deny it, it is okay to put forward some suggestions for improvement, for example, someone asked the fleet commander, "Your Excellency, if you attack during the day, the losses will definitely be very large, and it will also be conducive to the enemy ships to evade, why not put it at night?" It's easier for us to approach enemy ships at night, and it's hard for them to dodge torpedoes in the dark."

"Your suggestion is imaginative." The commander of the fleet first politely affirmed, and then immediately changed his words and pointed out why he chose to attack during the day, "However, the enemy can't see clearly at night, and we can't see it either!" Even if the enemy is strong and we are weak, and a chaotic battle is beneficial to us, how can we catch the whereabouts of the Chinese fleet at night? As we all know, even in a sunny day, the maximum visual distance that can be identified as a military ship or a civilian ship is generally a few thousand yards, let alone at night. ”

The captain who made the suggestion wanted to "let the cruisers tracking the Chinese fleet get closer to prevent them from missing their targets," but he immediately realized that doing so would have to come within the effective range of the enemy's guns, and he was speechless. (To be continued.) )